Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene

This is a discussion on Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; Learnt something new today from this forum itself and posting it back here as the information qualifies as a trivia. ...

Learnt something new today from this forum itself and posting it back here as the information qualifies as a trivia. Call it the beauty of the forum.

Not many, including me, knew that Maruti Suzuki used to produce Maruti 800 AT; yes, with automatic gearbox, since the late 80s. The car was produced 'on request' for the disabled and a certificate of disability was required to order it from the factory

Not many, including me, knew that Maruti Suzuki used to produce Maruti 800 AT; yes, with automatic gearbox, since the late 80s. The car was produced 'on request' for the disabled and a certificate of disability was required to order it from the factory

I've heard about it but don't know any actual owner/car. Any details about the auto box of 800 like if it was 2-speed or 3-speed and so on? Also, any idea what was the premium charged for auto?

If I'm not mistaken, they continued this till they launched Zen and Esteem Automatics with the 3-speed auto box around 94 or 95. I'm not sure if they sold "made to order 800 ATs" once they had automatics in their regular line-up. Can anyone confirm?

I've heard about it but don't know any actual owner/car. Any details about the auto box of 800 like if it was 2-speed or 3-speed and so on? Also, any idea what was the premium charged for auto?

If I'm not mistaken, they continued this till they launched Zen and Esteem Automatics with the 3-speed auto box around 94 or 95. I'm not sure if they sold "made to order 800 ATs" once they had automatics in their regular line-up. Can anyone confirm?

Also the first bike I know to sport a analog tachometer was CBZ. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Sorry, but I think that is not correct. RD350 had tachometer way back in the eighties itself. Even years before CBZ was launched Kawasaki KB100 RTZ had analog tachometer. KB-125 which later replaced the KB100, also had analog tachometer.And you missed Bajaj Caliber too,which had tachometer in all variants/iterations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenren

I think CBZ was the first of the modern bikes to switch back to the international 1-down/4-up pattern after most bikes in India used all-up or all-down patterns with the see-saw gear levers. First generation Pulsar 150s had all down pattern I think.

I think the first modern bike to sport a 1-down/rest-up pattern from a manufacturer not otherwise following the universal pattern for its models was TVS-Suzuki Shaolin- not CBZ.

CBZ was just the first bike from HH to get the international pattern.

Talking about the Enfield diesel, I remember my friend's uncle had one. He used to tell that the heat produced from the diesel engine is so intense that over a period of time,it literally blackens the skin on that part of the legs which is exposed to the engine, particularly if the rider is wearing traditional dress like dhoti.

Taurus diesel had a power output of just 6 bhp.Don't remember the torque figure though.

I think HM was the pioneer in introducing "steering mounted controls" way back in the eighties itself.
The whole turn-signal control itself was mounted on the steering wheel. And we talk so big about getting some audio controls on the steering these days.

Sorry, but I think that is not correct. RD350 had tachometer way back in the eighties itself. Even years before CBZ was launched Kawasaki KB100 RTZ had analog tachometer. KB-125 which later replaced the KB100, also had analog tachometer.And you missed Bajaj Caliber too,which had tachometer in all variants/iterations.

Not many, including me, knew that Maruti Suzuki used to produce Maruti 800 AT; yes, with automatic gearbox, since the late 80s. The car was produced 'on request' for the disabled and a certificate of disability was required to order it from the factory

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenren

I've heard about it but don't know any actual owner/car. Any details about the auto box of 800 like if it was 2-speed or 3-speed and so on? Also, any idea what was the premium charged for auto?

If I'm not mistaken, they continued this till they launched Zen and Esteem Automatics with the 3-speed auto box around 94 or 95. I'm not sure if they sold "made to order 800 ATs" once they had automatics in their regular line-up. Can anyone confirm?

The owner's manual for my 800 MT has information about the AT version too. The manual seems to be India specific, so no point of printing information for AT if they're made to order. Also, the manual for my 1987 Van has info. about an AT version too.

There's an 800 AT in Shivaji Park, Mumbai. That's the only M800 AT I've ever seen.

I remember Palio and Cielo needed to press knob to engage the reverse gear, anybody knows the first car introducing this useful feature?

Wanted to share one instance - When I was in market selling our Palio , the potential customer had decided to take a spin. I was talking to his friends for 10 mins roadside, suddenly received a frantic call mentioning that the traffic is blocked near to Deccan river side road as the reverse gear is not working

We had 2 Explorers - both given from the company. It was supposed to be launched before TVS 50 but Enfield India had a management change and the new management were not dynamic enough. Meanwhile TVS 50 was launched and became a superhit and there were no takers for Explorer and the Silver Plus. All these bikes came from Enfield's tie-up with Zundapp!

Interesting trivia - Enfield was supposed to tie up with Ducati and talks were underway but they proved inconclusive. This was back in the 80's.

Remember the old Fiat Siena ad which says "Get Noticed"? My friend sold his Siena because he was getting noticed only by the Service Center

Here is a list of punch lines for Cars.

I also vaguely remember "secure in a Siena" being used at times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanstorm

I remember Palio and Cielo needed to press knob to engage the reverse gear, anybody knows the first car introducing this useful feature?

I don't know the first car to have this, but Opel Corsa had the same feature, only difference is you had to pull the sleeve about the gear knob to engage the reverse. And people have had similar experience with my Corsa too.

Last edited by FlyingSpur : 22nd April 2014 at 14:03.
Reason: Please use the EDIT button instead of creating successive back-to-back posts.

I still have my 12 year old 2nd generation Caliber (which co-existed with Caliber Croma) which my mother bought for me during my engineering. Sadly, this version of Caliber existed in the market only for a brief period (some 6 months or so).

2nd generation Caliber had vast improvements over 1st generation. The differences I remember compared to my engineering roommate's 1st generation Caliber are:
- improved gear box
- better quality switches - the indicator switch would go back to centre after switching on and had to be pressed to switch off. Older Caliber's switch had to be pulled back to centre position to switch off. Also, engine on-off switch (was unique for Bajaj bikes back then) felt a lot lot better.
- better paint - my bike's red colour is metallic, compared to almost maroon of older Caliber

Caliber Croma came with different paint scheme (there was some Grape colour option). It also had dome kinda headlights instead of round ones (like CBZ). Croma was there for even shorter duration in the market. Soon they were all replaced by Caliber 115. The 115 had tyres with smaller radius if I remember right. It stood shorter compared to Caliber - probably making it easy for shorter people to ride.

Maruti Suzuki used to produce Maruti 800 AT; yes, with automatic gearbox, since the late 80s. The car was produced 'on request' for the disabled and a certificate of disability was required to order it from the factory

Looking back, Maruti is the culprit here to associate an AT as something for the disabled people only. This was probably a major reason why AT trend didn't catch up sooner in India. It was pitched in as something for the 'disabled' in those days and the 'perfect' people didn't want to associate themselves with it.

At least some people still feel that using an AT means they are not as skilled as the others who use MT, thanks to the mindset of our orthodox society where it is a shame to admit you are not good at something even if you are an expert in dozen other things that matter. If your excuse is that you were abroad for many years and got used to driving ATs, that is something they'll accept. Anything else means you are incompetent!

Quote:

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

I also vaguely remember "secure in a Siena" being used at times.

I remember those Siena ads where they showed a child sleeping peacefully in the rear seat. I think this caption was used in those ads.